Published: Friday, January 4, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 11:36 p.m.

Family and friends of a mother and baby, who seemed near death at the scene of a head-on collision Dec. 3, say they see a miracle every time they look at mother and child.

Facts

Continuing Saturday

Read more about the Stepps' road to recovery in Saturday's edition of the Times-News.

“It was just an amazing miracle to see where Ely is now and where he was that day,” said Sue Ann Hamby, who rushed from her home off Kanuga Road and saved the 6-month-old baby with CPR she learned at church.

It was a miracle in itself that she was there.

“I actually pulled out of my driveway to leave. I was going to meet a friend for lunch,” she said. But she got a text from her friend, who had to reschedule at the last minute. “It was at 11:45. I was not supposed to be at home.”

Heather Bradburn Stepp, a 26-year-old mother of three, was heading into town for lunch with her infant son strapped in a car seat when their SUV was struck on Kanuga Road.

Hamby, who was cleaning a room at the front of her home, heard squealing tires and the piercing crash that followed. The sound echoed in her ears, she said.

She ran out of her front door and up her neighbor's driveway to the wreck, yelling back to her neighbor to call an ambulance. “Call, right now! Call, right now!”

“I could see it was a head-on collision,” she said. “I could see a man in a white truck. He was bleeding from his head. He was calling out, ‘Somebody help me! Somebody help me!' He was at least talking so I knew he was alive. I told him, ‘you're going to be okay, I have to go check on the other driver.'”

N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Corbin said a Chevy pickup truck crossed the center line and crashed into the front of Stepp's SUV near London Road at about 12:15 p.m.

Paul Jeffrey Satterfield, 56, of Hendersonville was driving under the influence of drugs when he crossed the center line, according to Trooper Bryan Stroup.

“When I got to Heather's car, she was just in shock,” Hamby said. “I could tell she was trying to focus on me, but I could tell she couldn't speak.”

She saw a man walking up the road. She started to leave him with Stepp to go check on the other driver when she asked, “Is my baby okay?”

The man called to Hamby, “I think there's a baby in the back. Is the baby okay?”

“My heart sank because I had not heard a baby cry,” she said.

Hamby found Ely still strapped in his rear-facing car seat, his little head resting on his chest. Blood trickled from his nose. He was silent.

“My heart sank even further cause when I looked at him, I thought, 'he's gone,'” Hamby said.

She unhooked his car seat and carried him to the side of the road. Ely was not breathing and his heart was not beating.

“I knew I had to do CPR,” she said.

Hamby had never done CPR before, but she knew what to do.

“In our nursery we have posters up that show how to do baby CPR. So I did rescue breathing over his nose and mouth,” she said, and followed that with taps to his chest.

“And he would not respond,” she said. “He was a baby without life. I felt like when I got him out of the back I was taking a baby who was already gone. I remember feeling completely in awe and blessed that God let me be with that baby at that time, at that critical time in his life. He needed somebody to love him regardless of what happened.”

She continued with CPR for eight minutes.

“It felt like forever. I couldn't get him to breathe. I couldn't get his heart beating,” she said.

Hamby saw the man, who was with Heather, step out to see how Ely was doing. Hamby heard him say, “You're baby is okay.”

“I just shook my head, no, because I was quite certain that he was gone,” Hamby said.

CPR was not working, so she put her hands over his chest and prayed. “Dear God, please save this baby.”

The man beside her prayed, too.

“As my hands were on his chest, the second I got those words out of my mouth I felt his heart racing, just pounding out of his chest,” she said. “I began to laugh and cry at the same time. Then at that same moment he took a huge breath. He breathed back out and then took another deep breath.”

Then Valley Hill Fire and Rescue arrived, and Hamby flagged them down.

“This poor child I know went a good 10 minutes without breathing,” she said.

Hamby still wasn't sure if Ely would make it when the ambulance carried the Stepps and Satterfield to Pardee Hospital, where Heather and Ely were airlifted to Mission.

But on that day - nearly 18 years to the day after Hamby lost her two younger sisters in a fatal car wreck - she prayed. A friend of Heather Stepp's called to thank her and asked her to come to the hospital.

Hamby remembered the hospital and the NICU from when her 7-month-old son, Jonathan, almost the same age as Ely, was airlifted there for breathing difficulties nearly 11 years before. Her son was given a hand-crocheted blanket when he was there. She asked her husband, Chad, and Jonathan if she could now give the blanket to Ely.

And before she did, they all prayed again. “It has been an unceasing prayer fest at our house,” Hamby said.

Seeing Ely move around today is a spectacular sight, Hamby said. Hearing him cough and cry is sweeter than music, for Hamby and especially Heather Stepp, who is also still recovering. They are both living and breathing miracles, says Heather Stepp's mother and father, Melissa and Scott Bradburn.

Hamby shared her testimony of the miracles she witnessed at a special praise service held at the Stepps' church Holly Springs Baptist Sunday night. It was a packed house.

<p>Family and friends of a mother and baby, who seemed near death at the scene of a head-on collision Dec. 3, say they see a miracle every time they look at mother and child.</p><p>“It was just an amazing miracle to see where Ely is now and where he was that day,” said Sue Ann Hamby, who rushed from her home off Kanuga Road and saved the 6-month-old baby with CPR she learned at church.</p><p>It was a miracle in itself that she was there.</p><p>“I actually pulled out of my driveway to leave. I was going to meet a friend for lunch,” she said. But she got a text from her friend, who had to reschedule at the last minute. “It was at 11:45. I was not supposed to be at home.”</p><p>Heather Bradburn Stepp, a 26-year-old mother of three, was heading into town for lunch with her infant son strapped in a car seat when their SUV was struck on Kanuga Road.</p><p>Hamby, who was cleaning a room at the front of her home, heard squealing tires and the piercing crash that followed. The sound echoed in her ears, she said.</p><p>She ran out of her front door and up her neighbor's driveway to the wreck, yelling back to her neighbor to call an ambulance. “Call, right now! Call, right now!”</p><p>“I could see it was a head-on collision,” she said. “I could see a man in a white truck. He was bleeding from his head. He was calling out, 'Somebody help me! Somebody help me!' He was at least talking so I knew he was alive. I told him, 'you're going to be okay, I have to go check on the other driver.'”</p><p>N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Corbin said a Chevy pickup truck crossed the center line and crashed into the front of Stepp's SUV near London Road at about 12:15 p.m.</p><p>Paul Jeffrey Satterfield, 56, of Hendersonville was driving under the influence of drugs when he crossed the center line, according to Trooper Bryan Stroup.</p><p>“When I got to Heather's car, she was just in shock,” Hamby said. “I could tell she was trying to focus on me, but I could tell she couldn't speak.”</p><p>She saw a man walking up the road. She started to leave him with Stepp to go check on the other driver when she asked, “Is my baby okay?”</p><p>The man called to Hamby, “I think there's a baby in the back. Is the baby okay?”</p><p>“My heart sank because I had not heard a baby cry,” she said.</p><p>Hamby found Ely still strapped in his rear-facing car seat, his little head resting on his chest. Blood trickled from his nose. He was silent.</p><p>“My heart sank even further cause when I looked at him, I thought, 'he's gone,'” Hamby said.</p><p>She unhooked his car seat and carried him to the side of the road. Ely was not breathing and his heart was not beating.</p><p>“I knew I had to do CPR,” she said.</p><p>Hamby had never done CPR before, but she knew what to do.</p><p>“In our nursery we have posters up that show how to do baby CPR. So I did rescue breathing over his nose and mouth,” she said, and followed that with taps to his chest.</p><p>“And he would not respond,” she said. “He was a baby without life. I felt like when I got him out of the back I was taking a baby who was already gone. I remember feeling completely in awe and blessed that God let me be with that baby at that time, at that critical time in his life. He needed somebody to love him regardless of what happened.”</p><p>She continued with CPR for eight minutes.</p><p>“It felt like forever. I couldn't get him to breathe. I couldn't get his heart beating,” she said.</p><p>Hamby saw the man, who was with Heather, step out to see how Ely was doing. Hamby heard him say, “You're baby is okay.”</p><p>“I just shook my head, no, because I was quite certain that he was gone,” Hamby said.</p><p>CPR was not working, so she put her hands over his chest and prayed. “Dear God, please save this baby.”</p><p>The man beside her prayed, too.</p><p>“As my hands were on his chest, the second I got those words out of my mouth I felt his heart racing, just pounding out of his chest,” she said. “I began to laugh and cry at the same time. Then at that same moment he took a huge breath. He breathed back out and then took another deep breath.”</p><p>Then Valley Hill Fire and Rescue arrived, and Hamby flagged them down.</p><p>“This poor child I know went a good 10 minutes without breathing,” she said.</p><p>Hamby still wasn't sure if Ely would make it when the ambulance carried the Stepps and Satterfield to Pardee Hospital, where Heather and Ely were airlifted to Mission.</p><p>But on that day - nearly 18 years to the day after Hamby lost her two younger sisters in a fatal car wreck - she prayed. A friend of Heather Stepp's called to thank her and asked her to come to the hospital.</p><p>Hamby remembered the hospital and the NICU from when her 7-month-old son, Jonathan, almost the same age as Ely, was airlifted there for breathing difficulties nearly 11 years before. Her son was given a hand-crocheted blanket when he was there. She asked her husband, Chad, and Jonathan if she could now give the blanket to Ely.</p><p>And before she did, they all prayed again. “It has been an unceasing prayer fest at our house,” Hamby said.</p><p>Seeing Ely move around today is a spectacular sight, Hamby said. Hearing him cough and cry is sweeter than music, for Hamby and especially Heather Stepp, who is also still recovering. They are both living and breathing miracles, says Heather Stepp's mother and father, Melissa and Scott Bradburn.</p><p>Hamby shared her testimony of the miracles she witnessed at a special praise service held at the Stepps' church Holly Springs Baptist Sunday night. It was a packed house.</p><p>Reach Weaver at Emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>